Swimming as primal exercise

i happened to take my kids swimming to the pool a few days ago. i had a hydroslide with them and then swum some lengths of the pool coz i was there. i was amazed at how good it felt and the different muscles it uses. i hate chlorine but i have decided i need to work out a way of doing more swimming. i have access to an indoor pool in town with chlorine in, an outdoor salt water pool which is heated and also has chlorine added and i have the ocean which is sometimes trecherous and always cold. so my plan is to somehow incorporate a swim somewhere at least once a week.

anyone else do swimming as part of their exercise? what strokes do you do? do you do a distance or a time? diving? what effect have you found it to have?

mine is run by my local council so yours prob is too. i just wish they didnt put chlorine in it. what stroke did you use for sprints? i saw some people aquajogging and it looked incredibly boring indeed. i had a go lol and it was and also it wasnt very hard at all. i imagine you'd get more exercise if you got out and walked around the edge of the pool.

I swim a kilometer every work day during my lunch break. I swim breast stroke with relatively long drifts between strokes to keep my heart rate down. It makes a great combination of low level cardio, light full-body workout, dynamic stretch and brain massage. I would ideally alternate between front crawl and breast stroke, but I haven't learnt proper front crawl technique yet so I tend to expend too much energy and swallow too much water.

Swimming in the ocean would be your best bet. Although cold, it adds to weight loss. If you read TIm Ferris's 4 hour body, they discovered Michael Phelps consumes so many calories as he burns off tons, because of the water cooling his body. Might be good if indeed, you are trying to lose weight.

I haven't learnt proper front crawl technique yet so I tend to expend too much energy and swallow too much water.

i always feel like i have huge big flashing lights pointing at me trying to do crawl out in the sea telling the sharks i am an injured sea flayling around needing to be eaten lol i do prefer the idea of the sea as there is all that transdermal mineral absorption from sea water going on. it is prob just a matter of self discipline and getting used to it as there are old folk around i have heard of who go swimming in the sea every day. i do have a wet suit too but it is a nice slinky little surfing one not a thick southern ocean one! how long does it take to swim a k on average?

I am in a swim squad and pool swim 2 to 3 times a week average 2.5 km over the hour long session. In addition to that I surf, kitesurfing, standup paddle, surf ski, and help out my kids at the local surflifesaving nippers. The summer season is about to start so that will see us down the beach training and playing in the waves 3-4 times a week.

i have always wanted to learn to surf properly. i am also always saying i will treat myself to some lessons but so far, i have always had way too much other stuff on to do it. my other problem is practise as the only place i could easily go practise when the kids are at school is pretty dangerous. lots of nasty rips and sharks. if i went at weekends, i would be able to go somewhere safer but i feel the kids need to be able to swim better too as i cant then leave them unattended on a beach either.

so i could aim for 2 ks in an hour which would be OMG 80 lengths of the salt water pool. i wonder if they have waterproof mp3 players?! i guess that is why swimming in the sea appeals to me more as there are currents and things to swim to. and hopefully nothing to swim away from as they can all swim alot faster than any human can!